Tag: Assembly-elections

Bihar election: Congress pushes for early alliance, shortlists seats with better winning chances.

Source – newindianexpress.com

NEW DELHI:  Realising that delay in alliance formation in Bihar dented the Mahagathbandhan’s chances during the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress is pushing for alliance in the state to be in place by May for the assembly elections scheduled later this year. In fact, the party has already shortlisted seats with better winnability chances.

Of the 243 assembly seats, the party has prepared a list of those falling in three categories — A, B and C — with wining probabilities keeping in mind caste equation. The Congress is in a bad shape in Bihar with no district or block level committees in many regions of the state.     

“We want an early alliance to be in place for Bihar elections and we are doing our homework for the same. During Lok Sabha polls, the announcement of alliances was pushed till the last minute and it didn’t travel well to the party workers on the ground. As a result,  there was a lack of coordination between party workers,” AICC Bihar in-charge Shakti Sinh Gohil told this newspaper. 

The party feels that in 2015, seat-sharing formula between JD (U)-RJD-Congress alliance was in place much in advance as it was taken care of by Nitish Kumar and that helped the alliance’s coming to power before Kumar parted ways. 

The alliance talks between RJD, Congress, Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP, Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha and Mukesh Sahni’s Vikasheel Insaan Party lingered on during Lok Sabha polls. It was finally announced nearly a week before the first phase of polling in the state. 

Gohil says that instructions have been given to state president to constitute district and block committees on priority basis and first round of assessment is already over.    

With the RJD announcing that it will contest at least 150 of 243 seats and projecting Tejashwi Yadav as CM’s face, Congress leaders are in a fix as Bihar unit has told the party high command that they cannot win under him. 

“It would be difficult for the party to win even 5 seats if Tejashwi is declared CM candidate of the mahagathbandhan and party should not agree to contest under him,” said a senior Bihar Congress leader.

Jharkhand: 3 weeks on, CM Hemat Soren yet to expand cabinet.

Source – indiatoday.in

On December 29, when Hemant Soren took over as Jharkhand’s 11th chief minister, he allowed three ministers – two from the Congress and one from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to take oath with him. More than three weeks after the swearing-in, Hemant Soren is yet to expand his cabinet too. He has not even allotted potfolios to the three ministers already sworn-n.

According to sources, the most important reason for the delay in cabinet expansion in Jharkhand is that Soren’s ally Congress is insisting on five berths, whereas Hemant Soren is willing to give up only four.

Chief Minister Soren, who is believed to have already discussed the cabinet expansion exercise with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, also has the heavy task of satisfying the aspirations of his own party legislators, besides maintaining a fine balance between tribal and non-tribal claimants of cabinet portfolios.

In the recently concludes Assembly elections, the JMM won 30 seats, which is its highest tally in the assembly since Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in December 2000.

While the Congress is believed to have asked for important portfolios like health, education and rural development, Soren also has to satisfy some of the senior most MLA in his party, majority of whom once worked as close associates of his father Shibu Soren. There are over half-a-dozen JMM legislators who have won the Assembly polls four-five times and are aspiring to be head a key ministry.

Incidentally, Chief Minister Hemant Soren last week postponed his cabinet expansion exercise from set date of January 24 to an unknown date in the future.

Soren, on January 23, had met Governor Draupadi Murmu to schedule the cabinet expansion on January 24. While a time was fixed and preparations were on for the swearing-in, the chief minister once again met the governor in the evening to postpone the scheduled cabinet expansion. Killing of seven tribal persons in West Singhbhum was cited as a reason for the postponement.

Earlier, Soren is believed to have delayed his cabinet expansion exercise till January 15 when kharmas, an inauspicious period in Hindu calendar, ended.

The JMM, the Congress and the RJD won 30, 16 and 1 seat, respectively. With such a majority, Hemant was expected to quickly put his act together, but ironically he has not been able to take any major decisions so far.

The 91st Amendment Act and subsequent insertion of section 1A in Article 164 of the Indian Constitution mandate that the total number of ministers, including the chief minister, in the council of ministers in a state shall not exceed 15 per cent of the total number of members of the legislative assembly of that state. With a legislative assembly of 81 elected members, Jharkhand can have a maximum of 12 ministers, including the chief minister.

A senior Congress leader told India Today TV that the party wants to have five berths in Hemant Cabinet. The Congress leaders have been arguing that since they gave up their claim to the speaker’s post, the JMM should reciprocate and give five berths.

The state leadership has conveyed its position to the Congress central leadership, which is believed to have conveyed the same to Hemant Soren.

Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi attacks RJD for playing pseudo-politics.

Source – newindianexpress.com

PATNA: Bihar’s deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Friday made a scathing attack on main opposition party RJD for playing a kind of “pseudo-politics” in the name of backward castes. 

Terming the RJD a party of pseudo-politics, Modi said that it (RJD) had vehemently opposed the 10 per cent reservation given to the poor of the upper castes by Narendra Modi government as it had abolished the 3 per cent reservation given to the backward as well as the poor of the upper caste by (late) Karpoori Thakur in Bihar.

Speaking at the Karpoori Jayanti function, Modi said: “The people of Bihar will not forgive those, who opposed the reservation of the poor of the upper castes.”

Citing figures to substantiate his claims, Modi said the RJD had given only five tickets to the backward society out of its 100 seats in 2015 assembly elections.

“While the BJP had given 25 tickets in the same elections to the candidates belonging to different backward communities. It is in record to show how the RJD has always been misleading the backward society by its hollow political rhetorics and rituals,” he alleged.

He further attacked the RJD saying that only 3 out of 80 of RJD MLAs are from backward society whereas 12 out of 53 MLAs of BJP are from different backward society.

“Not only this, seven MPs of the NDA in the present Lok Sabha belong to the ultra-backwards society. These realities are on the record to show pseudo-politics being played by the RJD in the name of backward society,” he said.

He also lambasted the RJD for taking no step to ensure education add empowerment for girls during its 15 years of rules in the state.

“The NDA government has provided more than one crore bicycles amongst the school going girls under the cycle scheme whereas the RJD has provided a terror time to stop the girls from going schools,” he lamented, adding that the bicycle incentive by the NDA had encouraged a huge number of girls to pass the matriculation examination in 2019-20.

Amit Shah sounds poll bugle in Bihar, says NDA to fight assembly elections under Nitish.

Source – indiatoday.in

Bihar elections this year will be fought under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. BJP and JDU would contest elections together and form the next government,” declared Amit Shah at BJP’s Citizenship Amendment Act awareness drive in Vaishali, Bihar.

Shah’s comment is seen as an attempt to silent motor mouth like Sanjay Paswan who has embarrassed BJP by demanding next CM face from the party. Paswan’s similar demand couple of months back had forced Shah to make same declaration.

Amit Shah also lashed out at the opposition while speaking at the CAA awareness drive blaming the Congress and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the violent protest that took place across the country immediately after Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed in both the Houses of Parliament.

“Congress and Mamta Banerjee & company have orchestrated the violence that has erupted across the country after CAB was passed in the parliament,” Shah said.

Mentioning Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Amit Shah blamed the opposition for misleading the people on CAA and propagating a false narrative against it.

Jharkhand BJP to revamp after poll debacle.

Source – outlookindia.com

The BJP in Jharkhand has started the exercise of looking into the reasons for the humiliating defeat in the recently held assembly elections. The party is planning to axe those district presidents who could not win a single seat in their respective areas. According to party sources, preparations are also underway to bolster the party units at the district levels to overcome the deficiencies that led to the debacle.

A top functionary of the BJP said the exercise to pick new state office bearers is on and is expected to be completed in 50 per cent of the districts soon. This time the party faced big reverses in Kolhan region (24 districts) where most of the functionaries are likely to be axed.

The party is planning to appoint new district presidents this time and will not elect them, as was the practice earlier, sources said. The party will first get a new state chief and then the district presidents will be appointed, sources added.

BJP spokesman Pratul Shahdeo told IANS that the party has begun reviewing performances of its functionaries and is looking into the reasons of the defeat. “We do this exercise after every election. This is a normal process,” he said.

Laxman Giluwa has already resigned from the party president post taking moral responsibility for the defeat though his resignation is yet to be accepted.

The BJP is also reviewing the performance of the members of Parliament who could not help win seats in their assembly constituencies, sources said adding that Jharkhand election in charge Om Mathur has sent a report to the the party high command in which he has questioned the role of MPs during state elections.

Apart from the new party president in Jharkhand, BJP is also yet to appoint its legislature party leader. Sources say that talks are going on for the merger of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) president Babulal Marandi with the BJP. If that happens, BJP may pick a tribal face for one of the two posts – legislature party leader and party president.

Kanke Dam park to get Rs 2-crore facelift.

Source – www.telegraphindia.com

The Kanke Dam in Ranchi will be developed into an amusement park by next year.

Kaveri Divya Hotels Private Limited, owner of Capitol Hill Residency and Kaveri Restaurant in Ranchi, has bagged the tender and a formal agreement will be inked between Jharkhand Tourism Development Corporation (JTDC) and the state capital-based hospitality group later this month for operation of the facility under public private partnership mode.

Sources in the JTDC, which owns the 6-acre park near Kanke Dam, said that the private firm has to complete the process of renovation, operation and maintenance of the park within one year of setting up the facility after getting the work order.

“Kaveri Divya Hotels has bagged the tender and we will be signing a formal agreement soon for development of the tourist spot into tourism hub and amusement park,” JTDC general manager Anmol Kumar Singh said. “It will operate and maintain the infrastructure for a period of 25 years. The firm will have to pay an annual fee to us. We hope it would be a major tourist attraction by the first half of next year.”

The estimated cost of renovation of the amusement park is nearly Rs 2 crore, JTDC sources said.

“The private firm will soon be presenting us a detailed project report on the renovation of the existing infrastructure and addition of facilities as mentioned in the tender bid,” a source said.

A senior JTDC official said: “We would have liked the work order to have been issued earlier so that actual work could have commenced by now, but the tender process was delayed due to festivities and the model code of conduct for the Assembly elections,” said a senior JTDC official.

More than 6,000 visitors, including morning walkers, use the Kanke Dam park every day. It has a jogger’s track of nearly 400m, facilities for a light and sound show, space for a food court, restaurant, a landscaped garden, toilets, children’s play area, and a shed.

The play area will be renovated and enhanced, JTDC sources said. There will be a musical fountain, boating and water sports facilities, new joyrides, landscaping, open gyms, an area designated as a rain forest, an urban haat (market), in addition to theatres and connectivity with an existing rock garden.

“Musical fountain and laser show facilities need proper maintenance which the JTDC is unable to do, resulting in regular complaints from visitors,” said a senior JTDC official. “This is the reason behind outsourcing the project to a private agency so that existing facilities are maintained property and additional features attract more tourists.” JTDC officials also promised there would be parking bays.

Rabindra Nath Mahato elected as Jharkhand Assembly Speaker.

Source –

RANCHI: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MLA Rabindra Nath Mahato was on Tuesday unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Jharkhand Assembly.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren proposed Mahato’s name for the post which was seconded by JMM MLA Champai Soren during the second of the three-day session of the Assembly.

Born on January 12, 1960, Mahato was first elected in 2005 from Nala seat but lost the subsequent elections before winning it again in the 2014 and 2019 polls.

All the newly-elected MLAs in the 81-member House were administered oath by pro-term Speaker Stephen Marandi on Monday.

The JMM-Congress-RJD alliance won 47 seats while the BJP could bag only 25 seats in the Assembly elections which were held in five phases from November 30 to December 20 last year.

The results were declared on December 23 last year.

Understanding the local, in Jharkhand and beyond.

Source – hindustantimes.com

Interpreting state election results is fraught with risk, as analysts combine explanations that rarely point in the same direction. The data suggests that state elections are fought and won on local lines, and that recognisable regional leadership can put a challenge to national political figures, as has happened in many of the recent assembly elections. At the same time, analysts try to interpret the meaning of the outcome in the larger political framework — national politics or the next state election.

In the recently concluded election in Jharkhand, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Mahagathbandan (MGB) of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Rashtriya Janata Party and the Congress have similar vote shares — 33.4% for the BJP and 32.6% for the MGB. But the margin suggests that the latter’s victory could easily have been a landslide but for a few thousand votes. Sixteen Members of Legislative Assembly have been elected with margins of less than 5%, nine of them from the BJP.

The MGB’s advantage lay in the tribal belts, where the JMM won 16 seats and the Congress six, against the BJP’s two. Participation was also higher in these areas, particularly the Santhal Parganas Division and the Kolhan Division, which the MGB swept. It’s proof that the alliance successfully channelised voters’ discontent with the incumbent’s performance. Given the relatively small size of the assembly — 81 seats — local and subregional dynamics are more likely to have had an impact on the outcome, more so than in larger states where those effects tend to be more diluted.

Another factor that played in favour of the alliance is the BJP’s decision to go alone in the polls. Its erstwhile partner, the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), cost the party the vote share it needed to stay ahead. The AJSU’s effort to mobilise the Other Backward Castes — the Kurmis in particular — considerably harmed the BJP, particularly in central Jharkhand, where the Congress performed well even in urban seats.

In retrospect, the decision to go alone proved fatal for a BJP led by an unpopular chief minister. Jharkhand’s history, with no party ever winning a majority in the House since the creation of the state, should have informed the party of the uphill task. The cumulative vote share of the main contenders — the BJP, Congress and JMM — over the past four elections has been 49.9% in 2005, 51.6% in 2009, 62% in 2014 and 68.7% in 2019, respectively. Even though the vote share of the main contenders is steadily going up, it still leaves one out of three voters not opting for any of the major contenders. It signifies the importance of local factors as well as local political forces.

Among the national parties, the Jharkhand success shows the Congress that it pays off to assume the role of junior partner in a pre-electoral alliance. Its candidates underperformed compared to the JMM candidates, particularly when in direct contest with the BJP. The Congress had a difficult task against the BJP in urban and general seats, but contesting fewer seats compensated for its comparative weakness of having no visible leadership. It left the stage to Hemant Soren, who was projected as the chief ministerial candidate. The Jharkhand results may lead the party to reconsider its alliance strategies in upcoming elections in Delhi and Bihar.read more

For the BJP, this is an opportunity to rethink its strategy in state elections. Though one can argue that the party has maintained its vote share, the Jharkhand result is a setback, particularly when some of its national policies are backfiring and the economy continues to be weak. Even if there is no clear impact of the current national controversies in the Jharkhand election, the fact that the BJP campaigned exactly on those issues and lost shows these issues have little endorsement at the regional level. They don’t seem to compensate for the state government’s lacklustre performance.

The BJP’s post-2014 winning spree in state polls created an image of the party’s dominance, if not hegemony. The results of the last six state elections show that while the BJP uses its strengths to make inroads in new political spaces, it is unable to use the same cards to retain power. This will have far-reaching consequences for the BJP at the Centre, which will become increasingly dependent on non-BJP states to implement its policies. Many chief ministers — including within the National Democratic Alliance — going back on the National Register of Citizens is one of the first examples of future hurdles.

In such a situation, the BJP is left with only two options. Either it tightens its grip on the organisation and centralises powers further, including pushing on levers against state governments. Or it gives some leeway to its state organisations and regional leaders, and lets them lead the fight on local or regional terms. One can, though, argue that the BJP normally doesn’t let its grip go on its regional structure. The alternative would be the route chosen by Indira Gandhi, who, faced with mounting challenges from the states, both from within and outside her party, concentrated powers further to the point of rupture with democratic norms.

Polling underway for final phase of Jharkhand assembly elections.

Source – newsonair.com

Polling is underway for the fifth and final phase of Assembly elections in Jharkhand. 12 percent voting was recorded till 9 am.Voting is taking place for 16 constituencies spread over Sahebganj, Pakur, Dumka, Jamtara, Deoghar and Godda districts of Santhal Pargana region in this phase.

Polling in five Naxal infested assembly segments of Borio, Barhait, Litipara, Maheshpur and Sikaripara will be held between 7 AM and 3 PM. In the remaining 11 seats, voting will continue till 5 PM. 236 candidates including 29 women are in the fray for this phase.

Prominent among them are Jharkhand Ministers – Louis Marandi and Randhir Singh, JMM leader Hemant Soren, Congress leader Alamgir Alam and Pradeep Yadav of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged people to exercise their franchise in the final phase Jharkhand elections. In a tweet, Mr Modi asked people to participate in this festival of democracy and vote in record numbers.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made for free, fair and peaceful polling. Jawans of central para military forces have been deployed at all booths. Over 41 thousand security personnel of state government have also been deployed.

Helicopters have been pressed into service for air patrolling. Borders with Bihar and West Bengal have been sealed to check infiltration of anti social elements. Chief Electoral Officer Vinay Kumar Choubey said, 1,347 polling booths are being monitored online, out of a total of over 5,300. 

Gang-rape ‘by invitation’ on Ring Road near capital.

Source – telegraphindia.com

A 25-year-old student, who was out walking with her male friend on Ring Road on the capital’s outskirts on Tuesday around 5.30pm, was dragged to a deserted spot by two youths and raped by the duo and 10 more of their friends, all young men between the ages of 18 and 30.

All the 12 accused have been arrested from Sangrampur under Kanke police station area, close to the site of the assault on the city outskirts, in the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.

The men have confessed to their crime, Ranchi rural superintendent of police (SP) Rishav Kumar Jha said on Thursday.

Faces covered, the accused — Sunil Munda, Kuldeep Oraon, Sunil Oraon, Sandip Tirkey, Ajay Munda, Rajan Oraon, Naveen Oraon, Aman Oraon, Basant Kachap, Ravi Oroan, Rohit Oraon and Rishi Oraon — were produced before the media on Thursday.

The police also recovered a car and bike they allegedly used in the crime, one 7.62mm pistol with two rounds of ammunition, a country-made firearm of .315mm bore with one round of ammunition, and eight mobile phones from the men.

The woman, in her statement to the police on Wednesday, a day after the assault, said she had been talking to her friend on Ring Road when two youths first accosted them and started heckling her.

Then, they overpowered the woman’s friend and dragged her to a deserted brick kiln. At the same time, they called up their friends, inviting them to rape her.

Ten youths soon reached there and all the 12 raped her in turns, rural SP Jha quoted the woman as saying.

The senior policeman said the woman’s medical test had been done on Thursday and the result confirmed rape.

The survivor was stable, he added. “Let us not sensationalise the case,” Jha said.

The police parried questions on the sequence of events after the gang-rape, including how the woman and her friend were later freed from the clutches of the rapists.

Ranchi rural SP Jha said that none of the 12 accused had any prior criminal record. “They are all engaged in menial jobs.”

On how such a crime occurred near the state capital at a time police patrolling had increased in the wake of Assembly elections, rural SP Jha said: “It was only a coincidence that the police were not present where this assault took place.”

Expressing her shock at the incident, chairperson of the state commission for women Kalyani Sharan told The Telegraph: “More effort is needed to change the attitudes of men towards women.”

A teacher of Ranchi’s Sarla Birla School, Sujata Prakash, said it was unfortunate that women did not feel safe on roads even in and near the state capital.

“I am a teacher and work regular hours, commute by school bus. But I can sympathise with the women who work late and have to travel alone in and around Ranchi,” Prakash said.